Articles Posted inPedestrian Accidents

A pedestrian was fatally struck by a taxi in New York on Saturday afternoon. The accident occurred on a busy and sunny Saturday afternoon in Little Italy, Downtown Manhattan. Around 4:00 pm a woman in her 80ies whose identity wasn’t revealed was crossing Broom Street in the crosswalk when a taxi making a left turn from Center onto Broom Street struck her. She was rushed to the hospital with severe personal injury. She was pronounced dead when she arrived there.

The cab driver, 44 Bouchouata Miloudi, stayed at the scene of the accident. He was charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to use due care.

5 bicyclists, 15 pedestrians and 201 motor vehicle occupants were injured and 1 pedestrian died in traffic accidents on Flatbush Ave between Grand Army Plaza and Ocean Avenue from 2013 to 2017. This section of Flatbush Avenue was identified by Vision Zero as a priority corridor and the DOT proposal to install a protected bike lane was recently unanimously supported by the members of the Community Board 6. Work is scheduled to start this summer. This segment of Flatbush Avenue connecting to Grand Army Plaza, Prospect Park, The Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the Brooklyn Zoo is being used by an average of 500 bicyclists a day during the week-end and 350 during the week. It is also one of the busiest bus routes and more than 1100 vehicles per hour cross it at peak hours.

The DOT proposal should not only lead to a decrease in bicycle accidents but also improve bike access to Prospect Park and on-street bike network

According to the DOT, the Prospect Park edge condition is ideal for two-way protected bike lanes that would provide 2-way routes around the park compared to one now and also provide alternative routes at night time when the park is closed. Another protected bike lane project is in development for the segment of Ocean Ave that is at the edge of Prospect Park and the DOT is studying options to install bike lanes on Parkside Avenue and Prospect Park SW (see illustration).

A school bus driver who fatally hit a pedestrian back in February appeared in Bronx Criminal Court yesterday. On February 14th, 68 year old Agnes Egan was crossing the street at the intersection of Havemeyer Street and Story Avenue when she was struck by 66 year old Anton Goodhall who was driving a mini school bus south on Havemeyer. Video footage of the accident shows the minibus rolling over the pedestrian, stopping after the impact and then leaving the scene of the accident. Agnes Egan was critically injured and died 40 minutes later.

In Court the bus driver claimed he never saw the pedestrian. He said he stopped after the accident because he dropped a bottle of water. He also said that his visibility was reduced because two other cars were in the intersection. He also mentioned a big pile of trash on a corner.

Donna Sturm, a pedestrian who suffered traumatic brain injury after being struck by a bicyclist in midtown Manhattan almost two weeks ago died from her injuries over the week-end. Donna was left in a coma since the accident that occurred on April 24 around 1:00 pm. The 67 year old woman was coming back from lunch and was crossing 57th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues when a bicyclist identified as 40-year old Damian Dewart recklessly ran the red light and struck her. (see our previous blog for more details on the accident)

A pedestrian was fatally struck by a USPS truck in New York City. The accident occurred on Friday around 5:00 pm in Brooklyn. 52 year old Charles McClean was crossing MacDougal Street at Howard Avenue in Bedforsd-Suyvesant when a USPS truck stopped in the crosswalk. As the pedestrian walked in front of the truck, the driver started to move forward and struck the pedestrian. The pedestrian fell underneath the truck and was dragged across the the street by the truck to the next crosswalk. Charles McClean was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries but he couldn’t be saved. He leaves behind him 2 twin 10-year-old daughters. Just before the accident, McClean mother’s sent him to the store to get lottery tickets. He never came back. The mother, 72-year-old Shirley McClean previously lost two other of her eight sons. One died from gun violence and the other one from a medical infection.

USPS drivers above the law

The USPS driver remained at the scene of the accident, so far he hasn’t been charged. One of the surviving brothers, Gregory Mclean told Streetblog that the intersection wasn’t safe because most drivers only looked to their left for oncoming cars but din’t look at their right for oncoming pedestrians. He also said that postal workers in the neighborhood were reckless drivers always rushing to clock out and accused the young postal driver wo killed his brother of homicide. Another brother, Arkim, mentioned that USPS trucks didn’t have license plates therefore they couldn’t get ticketed by the police. No tickets means no accountability, he said.

A toddler was fatally struck by a van in New York City. The pedestrian accident occured yesterday around 12:45 pm in Bath Beach, Brooklyn, NYC. The van which was delivering candies and had Kittles and Starbust logos on it, was making a turn from Bay 25th street onto Benson Avenue when he ran over the 3-year-old Emur Shavkator who was riding a small green scooter. The boy was with his mom and another child. His mother was frantically trying to pull him from underneath the van. When the EMS arrived the boy was unconscious. He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The van driver wasn’t exercising due care and killed the young pedestrian

The driver of the van, 61 year old Johnny Gonzalez of Bensonhurst, stayed at the scene of the accident. He was arrested and charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care. There is a stop sign just before the sidewalk where the van struck the young boy. However according to a crossing guard working nearby who spoke with the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, many drivers in the area are behaving dangerously. “I see drivers do stupid things here all the time. They race by me, they run lights, stop signs and sometimes I try to get their license plates, but it happens so fast,” she said. “I hope we can find a way for people to just slow down.” Residents also confirmed that drivers were constantly blowing the stop sign on Bay 25th Street.

A pedestrian suffered a traumatic brain injury after being struck by a cyclist in Manhattan last week. 67 year old Dona Sturm just had lunch and she was crossing west 57th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues around 1pm when the accident occurred. As Dona was in the crosswalk, a cyclist blew the red light and collided with her. The impact was so intense that both of them fell on the ground. The cyclist was ok but the woman was lying on the ground with a bleeding skull fracture. She was rushed to the hospital and was diagnosed with traumatic brain injury. She is now in stable condition according to her husband.

The cyclist, 40 year old Damian Dewart stayed at the scene of the accident. He told the police that his brakes were not working proprely. The police gave him a ticket for a red light violation. In the days following the accident, the police were seen cracking down on cyclists in the area. 57th street is a very busy street in Midtown Manhattan and people working in the area have been complaining about cyclists zipping dangerously between pedestrians.

In a statement the employer of Dona Sturm wrote : “All of us who live or work in New York City do so at our peril because of bike riders speeding through intersections and often going against traffic on one-way streets. Bicycles should have a license plate to create accountability for the riders. We pray that Donna will fully recover from this tragedy.”

6 cyclists, 27 pedestrians, 5 passengers and 9 motorists died in NYC traffic accidents during the first 3 months of 2019 compared to 1 cyclist, 26 pedestrians, 2 passengers and 13 motorists for the same period of 2018. A total of 47 people died in motor vehicle accidents in New York during this first trimester, 5 more than during last year’s first trimester. The number of traffic deaths significantly decreased between the first trimester of 2013 and the first trimester of 2014, reached its lowest in 2015 at 40 and then oscillated between 40 and 50 for the last 4 years with no further improvement.

12,997 people were injured in auto accidents in New York City during the first 3 months of 2019 compared to respectively 12,920, 12,608, 11,936, 10,069, 10,805 and 11,676 during the first trimester of 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013. This is a record number of motor vehicle accident injuries for the first trimester. Except for pedestrian injuries which were at their second lowest level since Vision Zero started all other road users recorded a significant increase of injuries during the first trimester of 2019 compared to the same period of 2018 with motorist injuries at a record high.

The most alarming data this first trimester was the death of 6 cyclists. This number has never been so high in the past. After an uptick to 4 during the first trimester of 2016 the number of deaths related to bicycle accidents in NYC went down to 2 and 1 during the same period of 2017 and 2018. Last year during the entire year, 9 cyclists died in traffic accidents which was a record low. However the first trimester deaths are an indication that the city can’t relax its efforts to improve protection for the growing number of people commuting by bikes in the city.

The video shows a Dodge Challenger racing down 47th Street, a residential street in Borough Park, and hitting 14 year old Xin Yi Wang at full speed sending her flying across Ninth Ave. The pedestrian who was in the crosswalk and had the right of way at the time of the accident was almost hit by another vehicle after she landed on Ninth Avenue . The driver of the car, a white woman in her 30/40ies, stopped the car and stepped out of it to check on the victim. She asked her if she could bring her back home and the victim refused. Then a witness called 911 and the driver left the scene of the accident.

Amazingly Xin Yi Wang survived the crash and only suffered bruises to her torso and legs as well as a big bump on her head.

Two more pedestrians died in traffic accidents in NYC at the end of last week. One was hit by a bus and the other one by two cars. A total of 51 pedestrians and cyclists died in traffic accidents since the beginning of the year, an increase of 30% compared to the same period of 2018.

Struck by a reckless driver

On Friday night a pedestrian was killed in Queens. The man whose identity wasn’t revealed, was crossing Sunrise Highway in the crosswalk when he was hit by 62 year old Renford Tait. The pedestrian fell to the ground and was struck by another car. Both drivers stayed at the scene of the accident. The first driver who failed to yield to the pedestrian while making a turn from Brookville Boulevard onto Sunrise Highway was also unlicensed. He was charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care. The other driver wasn’t charged. The intersection is notoriously dangerous and known for speeding. Last year 126 crashes resulting in 58 people getting injured occurred at the intersection. Read more in Streetblog